In praise of single estates

We’re running a series of pop-ups around the UK during 2018 celebrating single estate producers. (Ticket release soon)

Single estate produce whether gin, chocolate, wine or wasabi feels to us like a beautiful island in a sea of convenient consumption. We all swim in that sea but it’s important to come up for air once in a while to appreciate the farmers, artisans and crazy obsessives who are knocking it out of the park with their perfect produce. That means producers like Shepherd’s Purse who’ve been perfecting their cheese for decades to those who’ve more recently taken up the ancient arts like the brilliant Cupsmith Tea in Farnham.

Shepherd’s Purse produce the legendary Harrogate Blue, a soft, creamy, rich golden, blue veined treasure which scooped two golds at the Global Cheese Awards and a silver at the World Cheese Awards. It’s so ridiculously good that our chefs once ate it all during service and there was none for the cheese course. True story.

Cupsmith Tea are remarkable for their dedicated sourcing, curation and editing of the finest tea and coffee (which they freshly grind and pack to order). We also love their passion for loafing about as founder Emma explains: “I want the world to drink sitting down, doing less, watching the clouds go by.”

With our new series of single estate pop-ups we’re celebrating these warriors, pioneers and purists. We’ll dig deep into their terroir, explore their stories and put their passion onto your plate. We’ve drawn up a list of our favourite specialist suppliers but now we’re wondering…who do you want us to work with? Have you got a favourite chocolate maker, pig farmer, herb grower that you’d love to see us celebrate with five kickass courses?

Roll call.

Here’s a few of our favourite suppliers…

Cupsmith Tea and Coffee

www.cupsmith.com

Shepherd’s Purse Cheese

www.shepherdspurse.co.uk

Our London Vodka

http://ourvodka.com/ourlondon/

The Tomato Stall

http://www.thetomatostall.co.uk/

Neil Powell Master Butcher

www.neilpowell.co.uk